CHAPTER FOUR

Inevitably, that night, Mikey slept once more. Though, he didn't dream that night, or the night after, or the night after that. His brothers kept watchful eyes on him despite his assurances that he felt fine. But inevitably, after a week of dreamlessness, he dreamt of the cave and of Quadeus, and the glowing stones forever trapped in the eternal stone carvings.

"Not again," Mikey moaned.

"What had you thought?" Quadeus' voice snarled, "That I had been untruthful when I told you that you would suffer, if you failed to bring to me Puerdé?"

"I thought you were maybe just a dream," Mikey admitted.

Quadeus snarled. Wait… no. Not Quadeus. Mikey turned around slowly and yelped when he saw a large bull-like creature with purple fur and bright glowing blue eyes. Its bottom half was that of a fish: oily black scales that glinted in the dim light.

"Either you return him to me, or you suffer." Quadeus said, his voice eerily calm, "For every night you do not return him-,"

"You'll leave me a reminder of my disobedience." Mikey finished, his voice trembling, "But how am I supposed to return him to you? I don't know who he is!"

"But he knows of I, and he knows of what I have been doing. He thinks, perhaps, that he can hold me off forever – but tonight shall show him that he is wrong." Quadeus said, "And that shall force his hand. He will return to me." Quadeus' turned his head towards the amphitheatre, "He will be home soon."

Mikey tried to run, but his legs felt like lead beneath him: entrapped in the stone, just like the glowing gems. "Please don't," Mikey said, "There's another way."

"Perhaps." Quadeus said. "But that is of no concern to me."

He waved his hand, and the bull bit down on Mikey's arm, hard.

"OW!" Mikey screamed. The bull's teeth were pointed and tore right through his flesh and muscles.

"Tell them of my name, Michelangelo." Quadeus said, "And do not disobey me."

And then he woke up.

He expected his brothers to be there, surrounding him, but he was alone in the darkness of his room. He looked to the door. He listened. But nothing. Shaking, Mikey got to his feet and stumbled out to the second floor railing.

"Guys?" He ran (which was more like a fast stumble) down the stairs, "Guys?"

"Michelangelo?" Splinter stepped outside of his room, which had been made out of an abandoned train cart: the old kind with back-to-back, cushioned seats and wooden panelled walls.

"Where is everyone?"

"Raphael and Leonardo have gone to aid Casey Jones."

"With what?"

"They didn't say. What happened to your arm?" His brown eyes were etched with worry.

"I, um, okay, well, I had another dream, right? And it's just, the dude, Quadeus, he was super angry, but like calm? Like, he was really agitated, but he was acting and sounding all calm, you know?"

"Michelangelo, slow down." Splinter gestured to the steps, "Take a seat, breathe. I will fetch Donatello."

Mikey breathed in deeply and sat down. He was still shaking. "Okay."

Splinter went to Don's lab: Mikey guessed he was either totally engrossed in his research, or he'd fallen asleep on top of it. Either way, Don came rushing out with a med-kit.

"What happened?" Don asked immediately, opening the tin box.

"There was a bull. It bit me."

"That doesn't look like a bite." Don muttered, pulling out a clear cream and some bandages.

Mikey looked at his arm. Sure enough, there were no bite marks and not even any blood. But there was a deep purple bruise, and when Don touched it gently, it burned like molten lava.

"Ow! Don't touch it!" Mikey snapped, pulling his arm back. He breathed in deeply, "Sorry, I-,"

"It's fine." Don continued to treat the wound, "Father, have you contacted Leo and Raph?"

"Not yet." Splinter sat beside Mikey, "Continue your story, my son."

Mikey felt kind of weird talking about it with Don there, but he continued anyway, "Well, truth is, Splinter, the guy in my dreams, Quadeus, he, uh… he has been talking to me."

Splinter nodded and stroked his goatee, his golden brown eyes deep with thought, "I had expected as much."

"You did?" Mikey asked incredulously, "Then why didn't you say anything?"

"I knew that you would tell me when you were ready. I did not want to rush you."

"Oh… well, uh, he's been saying that I need to return this Puerdé guy to him, or else- or else I suffer, and every night that I don't return Puerdé, he'll, like, leave me a reminder of my disobedience." He gulped, "And, I mean I know this sounds super crazy and everything, and you probably don't believe me, but he said that I need to tell all you guys his name, and I just… I don't think these are dreams, Father – I mean with the marks and everything, they have to be, don't they? And… and I'm kinda freaked out, you know?"

"Has he said anything else?" Splinter asked.

"Uh, yeah – something about him seeing me talk to the Puerdé guy, and something about Puerdé thinking he could hold Quadeus off, but that tonight would force his hand or something. Well, and that Puerdé would be home soon."

"I see." Splinter continued to stroke his goatee as he stared off into space.

"Do you… believe me? The dream? That it's real?"

Splinter sighed deeply and nodded, "I am afraid I do, my son. Donatello, call for Leonardo and Raphael to return home. There are matters we must discuss."

"What about me?" Mikey asked.

"Do not fall asleep."

"No problem there." Mikey muttered, "I don't think I'm gonna go back to sleep ever again."

Donnie finished taping the bandages, "Hai, Sensei."

Mikey was terrible at sitting still as it was, let alone while he waited for his brothers to return home. So he paced along the lounge room, fidgeted with his game controller, scanned through one of his comic books quickly, looked in the fridge a few times pointlessly, and sat upside down on the couch. I am afraid I do. It was never good when Splinter said stuff like that. Did he mean he'd expected something like this to happen? But how would he know that? Was Splinter Puerdé? No, it was probably more to do with the physical injuries… right?

"Mikey, careful of your arm." Don chided for the fifth time.

Mikey rolled on the couch so he sat up-right. "I hate waiting."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Don jibbed, and Mikey laughed. Don even smiled.

Mikey leant back into the lounge with a huff, "This is all so messed up."

"Yeah," Don agreed, sobering. He sat beside his baby brother and wrapped an arm over his shoulder, "So Quadeus is looking for Puerdé?"

Mikey winced at the mention of their names. "I guess so. That's what he said."

"Hm." Don frowned, "Quadeus said we've spoken with Puerdé?"

"Yeah."

"He wouldn't have meant one of us." Don said, more to himself than Mikey. "He couldn't have."

Mikey understood what he meant: he didn't want to believe it, either. But Mikey had a really, really bad feeling about it. He smuggled into Don's side, "What's taking them so long?"

"They'll be here any second." Don replied.

"They should be here by now." Mikey pointed out.

"I know."

"Maybe… something happened?"

"Probably." Don said morosely. "Turtle luck, true to form, hey?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly, the lair entrance opened and their older brothers came in. Raph was sporting a large gash down his right leg which was hastily wrapped in a blanket, and he was having trouble standing upright; his eyes unable to focus.

"What happened?" Don was on his feet in no time, and Mikey followed after. Don heaved Raph over his arm.

"Leonardo, come. Tell me what has happened."

Leo glanced at Mikey, "But-,"

"Now."

Splinter's staff tapped the ground firmly and Leo bowed, knowing better than to argue, "Hai, Sensei."

Leonardo went with their father to his room and Mikey followed Don into the infirmary. Raph cussed as he sat down on the bed. Don grabbed out gauze and bandages and began to disinfect his wounds.

"What happened?" Mikey asked.

Raph shook his head, "Ya' wouldn't believe me. Heck, I don't believe it."

"Try me," Mikey said dryly, "It's been an odd night."

Raph shifted and Don quickly scolded, "Stay still."

"There… we went to Casey. He heard the purple dragons were gonna be doing this raid, ya' know? And it was gonna be big. I told him not to go in alone but, 'course, he didn't listen. Leo and I had to shake tail and go save his sorry ass." Raph shook his head, "And we get there… and it's just empty. There ain't nothing there. No warehouse, no Casey, no gang. Nothing but a…" he frowned, "well, there was a… bull."

"In New York City?" Don asked, glancing up from the newly wrapped bandages.

"Yeah. And nobody noticed. There were people around outside, but none of them seemed to know the bull was there. But it wasn't even a bull, it was purple and its eyes glowed. I mean, I must'a hit my head or something, right? There ain't no way that thing just ran outta the warehouse and nobody saw it."

Don frowned, "Did you call Casey?"

"Yeah. April picked up. They both been watching a movie all night apparently." He threw his hands up, "Case had no idea what we were talkin' 'bout, either."

Mikey wasn't really listening. His mind was drifting. "A bull…" he murmured.

"Mikey?"

"There… there was a bull in my dream." Mikey said, and held his newly acquired wound, "He gave me this." But why would Quadeus go after Leo and Raph, and why in the real world? Why not in a dream like Mikey? Mikey's head was spinning. Don was saying something and forced him down to sit. He could feel himself shaking but he didn't care. Whoever this Quadeus guy was, he meant business, and he didn't care if that got Mikey and his brothers killed.

Don rested a hand on his shoulder and offered a smile.

"We're going to work this out." He said. "Right, Leo?"

Leo and Master Splinter were walking towards them and had only caught onto the last part of the conversation.

"Right." Leo said, his face set in determination.

"Whoever this Quadeus man is, is determined to find Puerdé." Splinter said. "The best course of action, I think, is to try and discover who this Puerdé is."

"I can try and find something online." Don offered.

"Raph, you contact Casey and see if his street contacts know anything." Leo said.

"And you?" Raph asked.

"Mikey and I are going to try some meditation. His link is clearly closest to Mikey and some meditation may help keep Quadeus out of Mikey's head."

Mikey groaned and slumped back into the couch. "Great."

The brothers retreated to their respective areas and Splinter went to his own room to meditate on his own. He was going to reach out to his old friends to see if they had any information that could be of value to them. Mikey watched as Leo set out the meditation mats in the dojo and helped him to light the various candles before he switched off the lights. The room was engulfed in an eerie glow and Mikey felt uneasy sitting down.

"What if Quadeus traps me in meditation or something?" He asked.

Leo sat down cross-legged before him and shook his head. "You need to stop worrying, Mikey, it's only going to hinder you. I'm right here. Nothing is going to go wrong."

"I hate this."

"I know."

They spent the rest of the afternoon meditating. Mikey liked to use meditation to hone in on the energy that surged his being. It helped his body to relax and allowed him to feel the pulsing of chi running through his blood. By nightfall, Mikey was feeling a lot better but was no closer to understanding Quadeus and was sure he wouldn't be able to hold him off if he were to fall into a dream once more.

He could hear Raph walk into the dojo and opened his eyes. He was surprised to see how far down the candle wax had burned. Leo was standing up.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Case didn't get no info about Quadeus or that bull but he did hear about strange snakes apparently lurking in the alleys. And get this, they were exactly as Mikey described the ones from his dreams." Raph said.

"Did anyone approach the snakes?" Leo asked.

"A woman did – a wildlife worker." Raph said. "She'd been on her way into her apartment building when she saw the snake. A lot of elderly people live in the complex so she wanted to make sure it wasn't dangerous but before she could even finish pulling out her phone, the snake struck her. She's in hospital in a coma. There was a security camera by the door but it didn't show no snake. If it hadn't been for one of the residents see it go down, they wouldn't'a known. The police just think the elderly is going loco."

"They would think the snake bites were from her work," Leo said.

"Yeah. They're investigating the workplace 'cause there's no record of something of the like happening and they think that means there's something fishy going down there." Raph said. "They think the coma is the result of an attack, from a co-worker with a nasty side."

"How do they think she got the coma?" Mikey asked.

"They think it's from her fall; a bad hit to the head," Raph said.

"That's no good for the residents if the snakes are still there roaming," Leo said. "And if this bull follows the pattern, then we're going to have a bigger problem on our hands."

"Yeah. The bastard ain't exactly easy to take down." Raph agreed. "Whatta we do?"

"We can look for the snakes tonight," Leo said. "If we capture one, Don might be able to use it to find a weakness against them, and against the bull. If they were both sent by Quadeus, then it's possible they both have the same off switch. How's your leg doing?"

"It's doing great." Raph cracked his knuckles, a grin on his face. "And I think I'm ready for some payback."

Leo smiled, too. "Go tell Don." He looked to Mikey, "We leave in five."